The present invention relates to a video advertisement and marketing system, and more particularly to a video advertising and marketing system using video media that provides a collaborative process in which “users”, such as advertisers, can incorporate material, such as advertisements, products, objects, or other information, material and items (hereinafter referred collectively as “objects”), in various video media, preferably digital video media, and whereby “viewers” (those watching the video media) can communicate with said users concerning the object. In a preferred embodiment, the system allows users, to identify objects within a video media, such as used in television broadcasts and clips, DVD's and BLU-RAY optical discs, movies and movie clips, music videos, video files, streaming videos over Internet, and other such video media (hereinafter referred collectively as “video media”); and permits viewers to select objects within such video media and utilize the advertisement and marketing system to communicate and interact with users and other viewers.
Audiences today are often confronted with a daily surplus of social information that competes for an individual's attention in almost every aspect of their work, recreation, and social lives. A popular form of advertising on large private or public networks, such as the Internet, is through the use of video files that provide short digital video transmissions, known as “streaming.” Individuals also generally frequently view web sites to obtain information, such as news, weather information, entertainment information, broadcast information, much of which is communicated using digital video files. Such individuals also utilize other various video media for obtaining information and communicating with other viewers. Thus, because such media provides access to a large population, businesses seek and use such media to advertise their products and services.
Use of advertising in such video media has increased significantly in recent years with the advent of new telecommunication means, including cell phones, texting, TWITTER and the Internet. Such telecommunication means have been successful in connecting large numbers of people through various means that include online bulletin boards, Email, Tweeting, and online instant messaging. Accordingly, a single video media is often shared among a great number of people.
An assortment of such video media that is frequently viewed or downloaded contain hotspots (certain defined “clickable” areas in a digital video media) that have been embedded or incorporated within the video media. Such hotspots include defined areas that are typically associated with an image shown in the video media such that when the viewer “clicks” on an area incorporating the hotspot a certain action results. This action may include establishing communication with a user, such as an advertiser, by use of a hyperlink to an advertiser's web site. One problem with use of conventional hotspots is that each hotspot corresponding to an object must be placed within the video media prior to viewing by the public. This embedding process is relatively time consuming and expensive. Further, older video media, would not have the incorporation of embedded hotspots, and therefore could not be used by advertisers. Another problem with the use of conventional hotspots is that the embedded hotspots in a video media are usually permanent and cannot be removed, or changed, or additional hotspots added except by making such changes to each video media, such as individual movies, DVD's, video files, and the like. Further, current systems incorporating hotspots in video media cannot be used to incorporate or embedded hotspots in live video broadcasts, such as a live television broadcast.
Conventional hotspots are hyperlinks that have a visual geometric region, grid, polygon, image segmentation, image map, vector outline, or other such shape and are typically overlaid over a given video media and may be visually transparent until viewer interaction. A hyperlink is a link that receives information, typically upon viewer interaction, such as a mouse or touch screen clicks. Hyperlinks may be visual regions such as a text string or cue points that are synchronized to some form of time code. Some of these methods allow hyperlinks to be dynamically added, modified, or removed. Sometimes hotspots are hidden to prevent them from visually interfering with the viewer's viewing experience. Therefore, a viewer may not even know that a hotspot or hotspots are available if there are no visual indicators or cues that such hotspots may exist. While there are a variety of methods that allow a viewer to interact with hyperlinks that are either embedded within or overlaid atop of a given video media, a problem arises when there are no hyperlinks whatsoever for a viewer to interact with.
In addition, a viewer's intent may be ambiguous when faced with visual anomalies with a video media, such as local interference, pixilation, striping, mosaic, slow connection speeds, stuttering, synchronization, time code error, or other such interference. Moreover, a video media may contain a visual image that itself is distressed by choppiness, focus blur, motion blur, clipping, strobing, and other such visual distress. For example, a high-speed chase scene in an action movie may cut to different angles too rapidly for a viewer to keep up with, or an object of interest might be moving too quickly across a scene for a viewer to identify. Thus, a viewer might miss the opportunity to interact with a conventional hotspot and may have the inconvenience of having to pause and rewind the video media repeatedly in order to compensate. Further, because of the speed of the changing scenes, a viewer may miss the object of interest. For example, a viewer may be interested in a tie being worn by an actor and attempts to use a mouse, smart remote, touch-enabled screen, or other input device to click on the tie. However, because of the speed of the changing scenes, the viewer may miss the intended target object or the opportunity to click on the tie passes and the tie is no longer visually within the viewer's reference frame. Further, users are interested in placing advertising (products) and/or hotspots in video media that have a high probability that a viewer will see or notice the advertising (such as a product). Unfortunately, until now there is no easy and effective way for a user to evaluate video media to determine the likelihood of a viewer noticing or seeing the advertisement (such as a product) displayed in the video media. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system that operates to definitively predict whether or not a viewer will see an advertisement (such as a product or object) while viewing a video media and without the need for a viewer to actually click/interact with the object placement (prior to incorporating a hotspot into the video media for the advertisement or object).
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an interactive advertising and marketing system for video media that provides a system and process in which users, such as advertisers, can identify objects within a video media, including previously recorded video media and live broadcasts, that allows users to add, subtract and modify hotspots, and which allows viewers to select objects and communicate with and interact with users.